Recent News tip: Syncing your account without Facebook

We've heard from some users that they don't like to using Facebook (or simply won't use Facebook) to sync their Recent News accounts across multiple devices.

Fortunately, there's a way that doesn't require a Facebook account!

First, some background. After you read, share, or bookmark at least five articles, our Android or iOS app will ask our recommendation engine to create what we call an "implicit account."

Once your implicit account is created, your suggested articles (in your Recommendations tab) will start appearing. At the same time, your bookmarks, history, and topics you follow shift from local storage to the recommendation engine. In other words, if you've been using Recent App for more than a few minutes, you already have an account on our recommendation engine—and no Facebook account is required.

Here's how to sync your Recent News account across multiple devices without Facebook:

On device #1, from the main screen, tap on the Search icon in the top right. Then type: ///showid

You should see a message saying: "Copied user ID to clipboard". Transfer that 32-character user ID to device #2 (using email, Bluetooth, etc.).

Switch to device #2. From the main screen, tap on the Search icon in the top right. Then type: ///sync

You should see a message saying your existing account is loaded. That means your recommendations, history, bookmarks, and topics are now synchronized.

Some screenshots of the process are below.

Yes, this is a kludge—we created it for internal testing and are working on a better way to synchronize accounts. One option would be to implement Twitter or Google+ login, but many of the same folks who don't want to use Facebook tell us they'd prefer not to use any social network. Other possibilities include sending verification codes via SMS or email.

Stay tuned for updates. But for now, if you want to sync your Recent News account without using Facebook, this is how to do it.